Making Agricultural Trade Sustainable project

5 - 6 March 2024. Brussels. Making Agricultural Trade Sustainable project

• 05/03 Towards sustainable and fair agricultural trade Workshop
• 06/03 Transition pathways towards sustainable trade (MATS project)

What is the kind of agricultural trade we need and want moving forward? At European level, what can we do to become a trusted partner in the global agriculture supply chains? How to make agricultural trade more sustainable?

Policy recommendations of the Make Agricultural Trade Sustainable project and TradeHub were discussed with Members of the European Parliament, civil society representatives, farmer organizations, and youth movements, and co-organized by the European Economic and Social Committee.

The programme (see flyer) started with expert panel sessions focusing on considerations on social and environmental sustainability respectively. The afternoon deepened the discussion between policy makers and decision-makers and created an exchange between Policy and Practice.

05/03 Towards sustainable and fair agricultural trade Workshop

Towards more sustainable and fairer deals for smallholders

• Leonard Mizzi Head of Unite Sustainable Ari-Food systems and Fisheries, DG INTPA, European Commission 
• John Comer European Economic and Social Commission (EESC) rep. Group III, president ICMSA 
• Louise Nakagawa Researcher, Imafora (Brasil) 
• Jonas Ngouhouo Poufoun Visiting scientist, International Institute of Tropical agriculture (IITA) 
• Herry Purnomo CIFOR-ICRAF (Indonesia)

Trade we have vs. trade we want - making agriculture trade just, nature positive and supportive of climate action 

• Beatriz Fernandez Associate Proramme Management Officer, UNEP Trade and Environment Hub 
• Geneviève Pons Director-General and Vice President, Europe Jacques Delors 
• Matthew Langdon, Trade Programme Associate European Climate Foundation (ECF)

Policy and Practice Exchange I: smallholder farmers & social sustainability 

• Helmut Sholz, MEP (INTA) 
• Marceline Budza, Rebuild Women’s Hope 
• Morgan Ody, La Via Campesina 
• Simon Guérin-Sanz, YFTA 
• Sylvia Kay, TNI

Policy and Practice Exchange II: trade climate and the environment 

• Saskia Bricmont, MEP (INTA) 
• Audrey Changoe, CAN Europe 
• Adélaïde Charlier, Fridays For Future 
• Lisen Runsten, UNEP WCMC

06/03 Transition pathways towards sustainable trade (MATS project)

With the 2035+ vision for a sustainable trade future the MATS consortium developed in Tanzania, this workshop will integrate “the view from outside” of the MATS project and include contributions from a broad spectrum of stakeholders. 

After briefly looking back at the results from the visioning process, it will start with the interactive part. In a World Café setting it will collect ideas and options for action towards transition, as well as talk about trends and trade-offs and start to discuss starting points for policy recommendations. 

The following list provides a summary overview of the African case studies

• Reducing poverty among smallholder farmers through enhanced trade regimes and value chains for coffee in Uganda and Tanzania - Improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers through trade and food value chains; localisation of food systems, strengthening of territorial markets - Uganda, Tanzania
• Priority Intervention Requirements to Enhance the Capacity of Sub Saharan African (SSA) Countries to Improve the Volume and Quality of Agri-food Exports -The cases of Tanzania, Ethiopia, Uganda, and Ghana - Standards and market access; challenges related to WTO Rules and Regulations and/or EU requirements; strengthening of territorial markets - Sub-Saharan Africa
• Role of policy frameworks and social cohesion for sustainable value chains and livelihoods in Ghana - Emerging markets; poultry chains; role of policy regulation regarding animal welfare, inputs and trade; competitiveness, sustainability, livelihoods - Ghana
• Analysis of cocoa and chocolate purchasing practices that could undermine living incomes for cocoa farmers - Experiences, obstacles, impact and lessons learned from a multistakeholder initiative on sustainability standards in the cacao sector - EU, Côte d’Ivoire
• Impacts of EU policies on local dairy value chains in West Africa - EU agricultural, trade, investment and development policies; impact on the development of local, fair and sustainable dairy chains - EU, Africa
  Increase of productivity and farm size, if applied to the existing number of farms, would allow Algeria to become self-sufficient in milk production under current market conditions.
• Human rights due diligence in the coffee value chain - Integrating human rights and environmental due diligence in coffee chains; impact on production practices and smallholder farmers
• Private standards and sustainable trade - Impact of processors/retailers' standards on development of local, fair, sustainable food chains Kenya
• Ethical trade initiatives in the South African wine industry - Assessment of local and global ethical trade programmes in South Africa (e.g. Fair Trade, Ethical Trading Initiative, Ethical Trade Association) South Africa
• Free Trade Agreements between the EU and selected North African countries, and their impact on food systems, access to water and sustainable development - Focus on the olive oil value chain in Tunisia and the potato value chain in Egypt; impact of trade relations with the EU on food sovereignty, territorial markets, ecological resilience and inclusive rural development in the North Africa region Tunisia, Egypt
  Olive oil production in Tunisia: the establishment of export targets has dual consequences: on the one hand, increased production benefits farmers, particularly large and export-oriented operations, through trade but on the other hand, the production level guaranteed by the export targets results in higher water demand and competition of the use of water. 

Resources

Integrated model-based simulation and assessment of linkages with agricultural market, trade and investment dynamics # 7p.

The EU Green Deal, as an example of a policy programme that aims at improving sustainability, represents both a challenge and an opportunity for agrifood imports for all countries, in differentiated ways. To turn this opportunity into reality the improvement of the design, governance, and implementation of trade policies and regimes are required all the way from private sector to national, EU, African and global levels. Customized quantitative systems models were created for four case studies. The focus was on milk (Germany, Algeria and USA) and dairy products (Finland), poultry (Ghana) and feed (soybean) production (Brazil). 

In Africa, energy-exporting nations could face a -0.36% GDP loss, while countries in the Horn of Africa may experience a 0.10-0.12% gain by 2030. The policy implication from these results is that the capacity of Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism  (CBAM) to prevent the risk of carbon leakage and support the EU’s increased ambition on climate mitigation, while ensuring WTO compatibility, is limited if foreign partners do not apply domestic carbon pricing mechanisms. (...) By sustaining technology transfer and the diffusion of best practices in agricultural production in less developed regions, the inclusion into a climate club could be complemented by ad hoc support instruments to make the carbon neutrality pathway also compatible with a more inclusive and equal development transition, resulting into typical win-win solution with environmental gains followed by positive well-being achievements. (page 5)

The sustainability of agricultural trade is intimately tied to the sustainability of domestic production, including social dimensions (e.g. labour standards and salary) and environmental dimensions (e.g. water availability, soil erosion). Therefore, an all-encompassing approach to sustainable agricultural production and food value chains is needed globally that considers both domestic and international dimensions. In crafting such trade and investment related policies, it is recommended to employ a dual strategy that combines provisions inducing change externally, such as the implementation of a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), with domestic or local measures that promote change from within the country and relevant sectors. (page 6)

Towards sustainable food crop production: Drivers of shift from crop production to mining activities in Ghana's Arable Lands

This study contributes to the observed reduction of arable lands discourse by examining the shift in land use patterns in Ghana as well as factors influencing farmers' shift from crop production to mining activities.

MATS (2024) Systemic Understanding: Summary Report on 15 Case Study Results # 146 p.

This summary report provides a synthesis of the 15 case study analyses and results, following a three-phase methodological approach. This summary and synthesis report is not only deemed useful for the following key processes and communication steps in subsequent MATS work packages (transition pathways development, policy recommendations development, society-stakeholder-policy dialogue, dissemination and communication), but also useful as a blueprint for future research projects with a similar synthesis agenda.

https://www.tni.org/en/publication/agricultural-trade-between-north-africa-and-the-eu-in-times-of-crisis